Edwards “Looking to Capitalize” at VIR After Bad Luck String

Photo: Brett Farmer/IMSA

John Edwards says BMW M Team RLL is hoping to bounce back from a string of bad luck this weekend at Virginia International Raceway to give the team its first GTD Pro class victory with the BMW M4 GT3.

Edwards and co-driver Connor De Phillippi enter this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIR still searching for their elusive first win with the new-for-2022 GT3 contender after coming up short on multiple occasions this year.

Two races remain for the program until it switches to the GTP class with the new BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh car that RLL will campaign next year.

“We’re definitely looking to capitalize this weekend,” said Edwards. “Obviously we’ve not had a great couple of run of races.

“Road America we had some electrical problems that took us out right on the formation lap, basically.

“We were dealing with those issues and diagnosing that through the first few laps before we had to finally pit and replace the ECU.

“That was a big disappointment. Obviously these weekends, there’s a lot of preparation, there’s a lot of effort that goes into every weekend.

“I think we were optimistic about [Road America] especially with all of the variables with the little bit of drizzle and everything else that made it a pretty exciting race.

“It was a big disappointment not to be part of that fight.

“We’re coming back to a place we know well, a place where we’ve done well historically. Hopefully we can rebound and get our first official win of the season despite having crossed the line first once, we didn’t get to keep that one.

“Hopefully we can keep it this time.”

VIR, as well as the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta have been happy hunting grounds for the team in the past, with De Phillippi and Alexander Sims having claimed the first win for the BMW M8 GTE at the Virginia circuit in 2018.

It was followed up by a second place finish in 2020 and previous podiums in 2014 and 2018.

“We’ve had success at VIR before. We’ve also had quite a few podiums at Petit,” said Edwards.

“Until we won Daytona in 2020, Petit seemed to be the only endurance race that I could consistently do well at, finding myself on the podium and generally fighting for the win, although that one has slipped away from us a couple of times as well.

“We always have strong pace and are always ready to execute.

“I won’t lie. It’a been quite disappointing to have a few setbacks. Watkins Glen definitely hurt the most because there was nothing else we could do that day and lost the win.

“That one definitely hurt a lot because I felt that came at a critical time. We just had our first podium the race before at Laguna Seca and then had a great weekend at Watkins Glen and were up front for most that race.

“Since then we’ve had a string of bad luck across a few races.

“They say bad things come in threes and we’ve had three races with bad luck so I’m hoping that’s done.

“When you look at the team, the team is secure, they know what they’re doing and know they’re going to be in IMSA for the foreseeable future. So I don’t think there’s any sort of desperation there; I don’t think there’s any sort of mistakes leading to more mistakes.

“I think we’ve just known it’s been bad luck and unfortunately these things are a bit out of your control. We’re fully focused forward on this weekend and Petit to close it out strong.”

Edwards in “Wait and See” Mode on Possible BMW LMDh Drive

The 31-year-old said he intends to remain with the German manufacturer next year, although no word has come through if he’ll be a part of the two-car GTP class effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

While having completed sim testing earlier in the year, Edwards has yet to test the LMDh car, which has recently completed extensive running at Barcelona and Motorland Aragon in Spain.

A total of nine drivers are understood to have turned laps in the car so far.

“I haven’t had a chance to drive it yet but would love the opportunity,” Edwards said. “I was on the simulator earlier in the year. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“BMW has a long history in motorsport and I expect that to continue in terms of their involvement across all levels.

“LMDh would be cool but there’s still a number of things I want to do in GT cars, including Le Mans eventually. I know there’s a lot of different things on the table there for the coming years.

“Also Bathurst and I’d love to get another shot at Spa.

“Right now we’re kind of in that waiting period to find out and wait for the announcement. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the future, whether it’s in LMDh or GTs.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John